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- 08/23/2021
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Coquina Hotel - 5. Chapter 5
The weekend before our first guest arrived, I had an open house. We toured one of the rooms on the first floor, the laundry, kitchens, ending in the dining room where we served Hors d’oeuvres The boys who I hired as waiters offer the guests a glass of wine, or soda, along with the Hors d’oeuvres.
Monday, we received our first guests, by the end of the week, we were fully booked.
It didn’t take Jon long to have the pier renovated. He didn’t like the dock we had. So he built a new pier on the beach and then, with the help of the ground crew, floated it to the site he picked out. Soon there were boys from town fishing off that pier. Jon told them that if they caught any fish, he would buy it from them, if edible. I knew any fish he bought would end up in our kitchen.
For the next five years, my life settled down. The hotel was doing fine, and Jon and I were living together. I couldn’t help but compare my life now with my life with Joe. What a difference. I now understood that Joe used me and never really loved me. It was a bitter experience, awaking more or less, but it led me to Jon. I was happy, and Jon loved me.
I continued to advertise in the magazine where I found the Coquina Hotel, I received the fall issue, and a photo caught my attention. A hotel in the mountains, north of us, was for sale. The owners wanted to retire. That evening I spoke with Jon about the hotel, Cypress Lodge.
“You want to buy another hotel? Why?”
“Coquina is running smoothly, the staff is capable, and I thought this would be a nice hotel to offer as an alternative to a beach hotel.”
“Let me see the magazine.”
I gave him the magazine and went to my office in the hotel. As I passed the reception desk, I asked that they send a cup of coffee to my office. I wanted to work on the books, never made it to my desk when Tony from the reception entered and said there was a problem in the dining room.
One of the boys from the dining room handed me a cup of coffee, “Andy, what’s the problem in the dining room?”
“One of our guests said that the food on the buffet table had bugs in it.”
“Did anyone check?”
“Yes, Diane from the kitchen checked it,”
“And?”
“She said it wasn’t one of our bugs.”
I needed to see Diane. Walking into the kitchen, “Diane, Andy said we had a complaint about bugs in the buffet table?”
“Yes, Roger came and told me, but these bugs aren’t from here. They are boll weevils which we saw in America when we went camping there. You could hear them eating the cotton buds. We don’t have cotton growing here.”
We have never had any problems with our guests in the five years we have been open. Why now? “Andy, is the guest still in the dining room?”
“Yes, sir, and he’s telling the other guests about the bugs.”
I walked over to the gentleman, “Excuse me. I understand you are telling everyone that you found a boll weevil on the buffet table.”
“Yes, here it is.”
“You are aware there are no boll weevils in this country. Were you in the cotton fields of Mexico or America?”
“Yes, why?”
“That bug isn’t from here. They live where cotton is grown, and we don’t grow cotton in this country. I think you knew that and this is a scheme not to pay your bill. I would like you to check out within the next 30 minutes. I’ll have a car take you to the airport in Acra. I do not expect to see you at this hotel ever again. Good-bye, sir.”
I call Jon and told him I needed him. When he arrived, I told him about the gentleman and his boll weevil scheme. Jon drove the man to the airport.
When Jon returned, he was laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“The guy said he didn’t think we would know about the weevils. He used it at another hotel and got a free week. How did you know?”
“I didn’t, but Diane knew. Evidently, on one of her vacations, she ran across these bugs. She said they could be found where cotton is grown.”
“We don’t grow cotton here.”
‘Right, that’s why I knew he was hatching a scheme.”
“You need to thank Diane.”
“I did.”
“Roge, if you want to check out that hotel in the mountains, I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“You, I know you want to take a look at that hotel. Just promise me, before you sign any papers, talk to me.”
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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